Family Lies
by cleotheo
Summary: When Hermione and Draco are called up to Hogwarts because their twins have been fighting, Hermione comes face to face with her former friends. But just why does Ron's daughter, Rose, hate Hermione? Mini three part story.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N – This is a short three part story. I'll be posting part 2 tomorrow and wrapping it up on Thursday.**

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It was a warm spring Saturday afternoon, a few weeks before the Easter holidays, as the Herbology Professor, Neville Longbottom, headed into one of the greenhouses to tend to his magical colour changing roses. Outside he could see the students enjoying the nice weather as he tended to his roses. Cracking open one of the windows, he was enjoying his work and the nice weather when his peace was suddenly interrupted by the sound of students shouting and yelling.

Wondering what the fuss was about, Neville put down his pruning shears and poked his head out of the greenhouse. The noise was now louder, and he could tell it was coming from just around the corner of the castle. Making his way across the lawn, he turned the corner and was confronted with a group of students gathered around something. It didn't take Neville long to work out they were watching a fight or altercation of some sort, or at least that's what it sounded like.

Pushing through the crowds of students, Neville was stunned when he found four students in the middle of a brawl. Two of the students were Gryffindor fifth years, James Potter and Rose Weasley, and the other two were Slytherin first years, the Malfoy twins, Scorpius and Lyra. James and Scorpius had abandoned their wands and James had the blond boy in a headlock, although Scorpius was still fighting and Neville winced as the younger boy managed to head-butt James in the family jewels. Meanwhile Rose and Lyra were hurling insults at each other, along with hexes and curses. Lyra's left arm was bleeding severely and she looked unsteady on her feet as she tried to stop Rose from hurling yet more curses her way. Neville took in the entire scene in a matter of seconds as he strode into the middle of things and waving his wand he put an end to the four fighting students.

"What is going on here?" He demanded as he gathered the four wands off the foursome.

"They started it," James spat hatefully as he glared at Scorpius.

"Did not," Scorpius retorted. "You started it."

"Inside all of you," Neville barked, before he turned to the students who'd been watching the fight. "And the rest of you, leave now. Anyone still here in two minutes gets a week of detention."

While Neville wasn't the strictest Professor at Hogwarts, that title still belonged to the Potions Professor, Severus Snape, the students all knew that in the right situation he wasn't to be messed with. He was after all considered a war hero for his part in Voldemort's defeat all those years ago. Within a minute everyone had gone, but the fighting foursome.

"Are you okay, Lyra?" Neville asked gently as he noticed the young girl was clutching onto her arm.

"Of course she's not," Scorpius answered as he moved to his sister's side and wrapped his arm protectively around her. "That cow hexed her."

"She hexed me first," Rose snorted.

"Enough!" Neville cried. "Scorpius, take Lyra to the hospital wing, and then come straight back to my office. James, Rose, you come with me now."

"But…" James started to protest.

"No buts," Neville interrupted. "I want the four of you inside the castle, now."

Neville's tone stopped the foursome from arguing back, and silently they trooped into the castle. Once inside the castle, Scorpius took his sister to the hospital wing, with a reminder for Scorpius to come straight back to Neville's office. As the two first years headed off, Neville lead the two Gryffindors into his office.

As the two teenagers slumped into seats, Neville wondered what he was going to do with the pair. Normally he had no trouble from the pair, which was rather surprising given their heritage. James was the eldest child of Neville's old friend, Harry Potter and his wife Ginny Weasley, while Rose was James's cousin, the daughter of Ron Weasley. Despite the fact they both had fathers who'd caused more than their fair share of trouble when they were in school, James and Rose were usually very well behaved.

"What happened?" Neville demanded as he took a seat behind his desk. "Why were you fighting with Scorpius and Lyra? You are aware they're just first years, aren't you?"

"First years with a bite," James snarled. He was still annoyed that Scorpius had managed to get him in the privates. "Believe me, they knew how to fight. And that boy can fight dirty."

"And just why were you fighting?" Neville asked.

"They attacked us," Rose said with a pout. "The little Malfoy bitch just pounced on us."

Neville shook his head as he started to get the picture. From the sounds of things it sounded as though James and Rose weren't impressed to have Malfoys at the school. Neville knew things had never been great between Harry and Ron and Draco Malfoy, but he hadn't expected the pair to spread their prejudice to their kids. Of course, Neville couldn't be totally sure that was what had happened as these days he didn't see much of Harry or Ron. After the war, he'd drifted away from the pair and these days he only ever saw them if he happened to bump into them somewhere.

"Let's see what Scorpius has to say," Neville muttered.

Rose and James both pulled a face at the mention of the young Slytherin, but they remained silent as they waited for him to return. Their wait was just a short one as a few minutes later there was a knock on the door and Scorpius slouched into the room.

"Sit down, Scorpius," Neville said with a sigh.

Scorpius sat down as far away from James and Rose as he could manage, and Neville was struck by how much like his father he looked. Scorpius had the Malfoy platinum blond hair, and his father's pale complexion, but he had his mother's warm brown eyes. Lyra on the other hand had her father's piercing grey eyes, but her sleek brunette curls and cheeky smile came from her mother.

"How's Lyra?" Neville asked, genuinely concerned about the young Slytherin.

While Neville wasn't in touch with James and Rose's parents, he was with Scorpius's. In fact he was good friends with Scorpius and Lyra's mother, Hermione Granger. Neville had been at Hermione and Draco's wedding, and he'd known Scorpius and Lyra since they were born. In fact until the Malfoys had recently moved back home, Neville had spent most of his summer holidays visiting them in Australia.

"She's lost a lot of blood," Scorpius replied, glaring at Rose. "The wound was deep."

"Good," Rose spat.

"Rose, that's enough," Neville warned in a low voice. "Now Scorpius, tell me what happened."

"These two were slagging off my family," Scorpius answered, confirming Neville's suspicions about what was behind the fight.

"We never mentioned your family," James spat. "But we can if you want. We can talk about your scumbag father, and how he was a Death Eater, along with your grandfather. Let's face it, your family is scum."

"That is enough," Neville snarled angrily. "We're going to go and see Professor McGonagall. We cannot have students brawling and fighting with one another."

Getting to his feet, Neville swept the three students out of his office and up towards the headmistresses office. Instead of escorting them straight inside, he left them sitting outside in the corridor while he headed into the office to speak to the headmistress.

"And they were really fighting?" Minerva McGonagall queried with a sigh, as Neville filled her in on what he'd broken up that afternoon.

"I'm afraid so," Neville replied. "James had Scorpius in a headlock, and Rose and Lyra were firing hexes at one another. Lyra's currently in the hospital wing having a deep cut on her arm looked at."

"And did they tell you what it was about?" McGonagall asked.

"Scorpius said Rose and James were insulting his family," Neville answered. "James denied it, but then started spewing hate about Draco and Lucius."

"We need to nip this in the bud," McGonagall said with a sigh. "I'll call Severus, so he can come up and get involved. But I think we need to contact the families and sit down and have this out. We need to stop this animosity before it goes too far."

Rising to her feet, McGonagall placed a call on her floo network, and seconds later the green flames lit up and a Severus Snape emerged from the fireplace. After a brief stint as Headmaster, during the height of the war, Severus had returned to his old position as Potions Master after his life was saved in the final battle and his true allegiance was revealed to the world. These days he was more than happy to teach Potions, and act as Head of Slytherin.

"Do we really have a problem with the Malfoy twins?" Severus asked with a frown. Like Neville, he'd known the twins their entire life, and while they were pretty mischievous at times, they were ultimately good kids.

Neville nodded as he explained what had happened that afternoon. Like McGonagall, Severus agreed that a meeting with the parents was in order, and he headed off to contact the twins parents.

"I'll contact Harry and Ginny and Ron," Neville said as he made his way to the door of McGonagall's office. As head of Gryffindor he felt it was his duty to contact the parents of his students.

"Thank you, Neville," McGonagall said. "While we're waiting for them to arrive, I'll talk to the three of them. And the second Lyra is fit to leave the hospital wing, I want her here with the others."

Neville nodded, and leaving the Headmistresses office, he ushered the three students inside. He then called into the hospital wing and informed the school medi-witch, Cho Chang, that Lyra was to report to McGonagall's office as soon as she was free to leave. With that sorted, he headed back down to his office where he prepared to contact the Potters and Ron. Neville had never had any reason to contact his old friends about their children so he really didn't know how they were going to react to the news that their children had been caught fighting with the Malfoys. All he could hope was that they were going to act like reasonable adults.

Checking for the addresses of the Potters and Ron, Neville decided to try the Potters first. However, when he tried their address, he got no answer via the floo. It was the same when he tried to get in touch with Ron. Since it was a Saturday, he didn't know if Harry and Ron were at work at the Ministry, where they were employed as Aurors, but he figured that Molly Weasley might know where the best place to find them was. Even though the address wasn't wrote down, Neville knew the Weasleys still lived at their old family home, The Burrow, so he tried to connect the floo to their instead. Fortunately, the call connected and he was greeted by Molly Weasley herself.

"Neville?" Molly questioned with a frown as she realised who was calling. "Is that you?"

"It is," Neville confirmed. "I was looking for Harry, Ginny and Ron."

"They're all here, come on through," Molly replied.

Thanking Molly, Neville pulled his head out of the emerald flames. Grabbing some more floo powder he opened a full connection in his fire and headed off to The Burrow. When he stepped out into the Weasleys front room, he was greeted warmly by Molly, despite the fact he didn't really know the older witch.

"Are the children all right?" Molly asked in concern.

"It's James and Rose I've come to talk about," Neville replied.

"Wait here, I'll go and fetch Harry, Ron and Ginny," Molly offered as she bustled off to find her two youngest children and her only son-in-law.

Less than five minutes later, Harry, Ron and Ginny trooped into the front room along with Molly. When they all sat down after greeting him, Neville realised that Molly planned on staying. Not that he was totally surprised as from what he'd known of Molly she'd always been one to take a keen interest in the lives of her family.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to come up at school," Neville began. "James and Rose were caught fighting this afternoon."

"There's been a mistake," Ron said with a shake of his head. "Rose wouldn't fight."

"Of course she wouldn't," Molly agreed. "Rose is a gentle child."

Neville wasn't totally surprised that Ron didn't want to believe his daughter had been fighting. Ron was a single father and had raised Rose all on his own with the help of his mother and the rest of the family. Chances were, he didn't want to believe his little angel was capable of violence.

"I'm sorry, but it wasn't a mistake," Neville said gently. "I witnessed the fight myself. James and Rose were brawling with a couple of first years."

"First years," Ginny repeated with a frown. "Why were they fighting with first years?"

"They were fighting with Scorpius and Lyra Malfoy," Neville answered. "Draco Malfoy's twins."

"Malfoy," Ron spat. "That explains it then. Those two must have started it. James and Rose were just defending themselves."

"Professor McGonagall wants to have a meeting to try and get to the bottom of things," Neville said. "It got pretty nasty, and Lyra ended up in the hospital wing with a deep gash on her arm."

"I hope you're not trying to blame that on one of my grandchildren," Molly said accusingly.

"We think Rose threw the curse that hit her," Neville admitted. "But right now, we're not looking to blame anyone," He added hastily as Ron began to turn a nasty shade of red. "We just want to stop this before it gets out of hand."

"Of course," Harry interjected in a calm voice. "We'll come right back with you, Neville. Thank you for taking the time to come and see us personally."

"It's nothing," Neville said. "The floo is already connected to my office, so if you follow me through, we can go and talk with Professor McGonagall."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Molly asked Ron.

"No, I'll be alright," Ron replied. "Don't worry Mum, I won't let them blame Rose for anything she hasn't done."

Sensing that the meeting wasn't going to run too smoothly, Neville headed back to Hogwarts. Within five minutes, Harry, Ginny and Ron had joined him in his office, and he led the way up to the Headmistress's office. When they entered the office, James, Rose and Scorpius were still sitting in front of McGonagall's desk. Snape had also returned, and sitting beside Scorpius was Draco Malfoy.

"Neville," Draco greeted with a small nod.

"Draco," Neville replied.

"Let's get on with this," Ron snapped, ignoring Draco and plonking himself on the chair next to Rose.

"We're going to wait for Mrs Malfoy," McGonagall said as she greeted Ron and the Potters and everyone took the seats provided for them in front of her desk.

"And just where is Mrs Malfoy?" Ron sneered, spitting out the name of his hated childhood enemy.

"She's gone to check on her daughter," McGonagall replied. "She should be back any second."

As if on cue there was a knock on the door and when it opened, a young brunette girl entered the room, followed by an attractive brunette witch. Neville watched as Harry, Ron and Ginny took a second glance at the witch, before realising it was their former friend, Hermione Granger. However, Neville wasn't so focused on watching the adult's reactions that he missed the look of pure hatred that clouded Rose's features when she realised who the women entering the room was. For some reason Rose Weasley hated Hermione, but why would she hate a witch she hadn't even met?


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N - I just want to thank the people that picked up on the error in the first chapter. It's now been fixed, so thank you.**

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Despite the morning sun streaming through her bedroom window, Hermione Granger was reluctant to make any attempt to move. She was quite happily nestled in her still sleeping husband's embrace, and there wasn't anywhere else Hermione would rather be. For now, she was quite content to stay where she was and be grateful that everything had worked out in her life and she had a loving husband and two amazing children.

There had been a time, just after the war, that Hermione had pictured her future with a very different wizard than the one whose arms she was lying in. Back then, Hermione had been certain that her future lay with Ron Weasley. After years of mutual attraction, they'd finally admitted their feelings and had embarked on a relationship following the end of the war.

For the first few months they'd stayed with Ron's family as they recovered from events of the final battle. The Order had lost a fair few people, and Ron himself had lost his brother, Percy. In the final battle, both Percy and Fred had been crushed by falling rubble, and while Fred had fallen into a coma, Percy had seemed to recover just fine. But then a few days later, Percy had collapsed and died from an aneurysm the healers hadn't spotted. Meanwhile, Fred had gone on and made a full recovery.

After a few months with the Weasleys, Hermione had started to get anxious about her own parents, and she'd informed Ron that she needed to head to Australia to find them. However, what Hermione hadn't expected was for Ron to decide to accompany her to Australia. She'd taken it as a sign that their relationship had been solid, so she'd been more than happy for Ron to head to Australia with her.

Finding Hermione's parents, and restoring their memories, had taken several months, but it wasn't the simple process that Ron had signed up for. He'd clearly been thinking that once Hermione had reconnected with her parents, they would be returning to Britain and resuming their life back at home. However, Hermione's parents were not at all impressed with their daughter's decision to obliviate them and send them half way across the world, and they refused to just forgive her and return home. Not wanting to leave before she'd sorted things with her parents, Hermione had informed Ron that she was staying in Australia for a while.

Ron hadn't been happy with the news, but rather than return home alone, he'd chosen to stay with Hermione. Hermione often thought that things might still have worked out between them, if she'd been able to quickly sort things with her parents. However, her mother had taken a turn for the worse and she'd ended up falling into a coma as a result of the memory charm and its reversal. From the second Hermione's mother had fallen ill, she became Hermione's top priority, and looking back Hermione could see she'd neglected Ron.

With her mother in a wizarding hospital, Hermione had sorted a flat for her and Ron, and she'd found herself a job to help pay for her mother's care. As a result, her relationship with Ron had suffered and Hermione had found she had very little time for her boyfriend. She often thought they should have ended things there, and Ron should have just went home, but he stuck things out and remained in Australia with her. Sadly, the longer he was in Australia, the more Ron had come to resent Hermione, and by the time they'd been in the country for a year their relationship had reached breaking point.

However, it was a couple of months later when things came to a head. Hermione had returned to their flat early after work, instead of going to the hospital after an argument with her father, and she'd found Ron in bed with a barmaid from a nearby bar he frequented. In other circumstances, Hermione would have been heartbroken by Ron's betrayal, but with the mess with her mother, she hadn't had the energy to wallow in the end of her own relationship. She'd merely ended things with Ron, packed her bags and left the flat.

Hermione hadn't seen Ron since that fateful afternoon, so she'd assumed that he'd returned home after their break-up. And since she'd stopped hearing from the Weasleys and Harry shortly after their break-up, she'd always assumed that he'd gotten in there first and made out that the whole break-up was her fault. Not that she'd been bothered at the time, as her main focus had still been on her mother and getting her back to her normal self.

Fortunately, things had started to look up for her mother shortly after Hermione's break-up with Ron. The Healers had managed to bring Hermione's mother out of her coma, and reserve the adverse effects from the memory charm and its subsequent removal. The trauma also had a positive effect on Hermione's relationship with her parents, as once her mother had recovered she'd been determined to rebuild her relationship with her daughter. Even though Hermione's father hadn't been quite as warm towards Hermione as her mother, he'd also agreed to give Hermione a second chance. However, both her parents were adamant that they were staying in Australia, so Hermione had also chosen to remain down under.

It was because of her decision to remain in Australia that Hermione had then re-met Draco. After the war, he'd chosen to leave Britain, and the press attention he'd been receiving following his pardon after the war. After a few months of travelling the world, he'd settled in Australia and had decided to open a Potions business, which was how Hermione walked back into his life. While her mother was in hospital, Hermione had just been waitressing to make ends meet, but once she'd made the decision to settle down in Australia, she'd set out to find a more permanent job, and that was when she'd found an advert in the largest Australian wizarding paper advertising for staff for a new Potions company.

When Hermione had gone for the interview, she'd been shocked to find Draco would be her employer if she got the job. Initially, she'd concerned walking away from the job given their past, but he'd persuaded her to give him a chance to prove that he was really was a change man after the war. Hermione had given him that chance, and because he'd know just what she was capable of, Draco had offered her a job as one of the senior managers in his company. Since it was a better job than what she'd initially being going for, Hermione had accepted the offer and she'd started working at Draco's company as he got it off the ground.

Hermione's senior position in the company had brought her into pretty regular contact with Draco, and that was how they'd become friends. Once they'd established a solid friendship, Draco had started asking Hermione for advice about the business. As Hermione's advice giving became more of a regular thing, the pair began spending more and more time together, until finally they gave in to the bubbling chemistry between them and ended up in bed together.

One night was all it took for both of them to admit they wanted more. Within a month of their first night of passion, they were a fully-fledged couple. That was when Hermione had decided to look for a job elsewhere, as she didn't want to be known as the witch sleeping with her boss. However, Draco hadn't wanted to lose her, so he'd offered her a partnership deal. Since then they'd ran the potions company together, and with several branches all over the world it had turned into one of the largest and most successful potions business in the world over the last decade.

While their business had flourished, so had their personal relationship. After six months of dating, they moved in together and a few months after that, Draco had proposed. They were married eighteen months after their first night together, and Hermione had never regretted one moment of her time with Draco. They'd been very happy together, and they'd created two beautiful children in their eleven year old twins, Scorpius and Lyra.

The only doubt Hermione had about any part of her life was their decision to move back to Britain. Their decision had partly been brought about by the twins, and their desire to go to school at Hogwarts. Over the years they'd heard plenty about the school as not only had both Hermione and Draco mentioned their time at school, but Draco's parents, Lucius and Narcissa, talked about Hogwarts as well. Then there was the fact that Draco's godfather, Severus Snape, had resumed his teaching career at Hogwarts after the war, and the only friend of Hermione's she'd kept in touch with, Neville Longbottom, was also a Professor at the school. With all those connections to Hogwarts, it had only been natural that the twins asked to attend the magical school, however to make the twins dream come true, the family were forced to relocate back to Britain as Hogwarts didn't accept witches and wizards who lived in foreign countries.

So far the Malfoys had been back in Britain for over a year, and Hermione still wasn't sure they'd done the right thing. Of course, she and Draco had used the opportunity to set up a new branch of the business in wizarding Britain, but she had a feeling that sooner or later the past was going to catch up with her. It was a miracle that she'd never ran into some of her former friends before now, but Hermione knew it would eventually happen. Sooner or later, she would have to face her friends and find out just what Ron had told them for them to cut her off completely.

However, that was a problem for another day, right now Hermione was happy in bed with Draco. Especially as she was lying, she felt her husband begin to wake up. Turning round, she greeted Draco with a warm smile.

"Morning," She purred, rubbing her naked breasts against Draco's chest.

"And what a good one it is," Draco replied with a slow smirk as his hands ran over Hermione's bare backside. "I love it when we wake up naked."

"Then we better make the most of it," Hermione said. "Easter break starts in a couple of weeks and the twins will be home."

"Why can't they stay at Hogwarts for Easter like normal kids?" Draco grumbled, although deep down he was pleased his two children would rather come home than spend their holidays away from them.

"You miss them really," Hermione chuckled.

"Not right now I don't," Draco argued as he flung back the covers and let his eyes wander hungrily over his wife's naked body.

As Draco rolled over and pinned Hermione underneath him, all talk of the children was ended as the couple enjoyed a luxurious morning of sex. When they finally tore themselves away from one another, and out of bed, they hopped in the shower together, which resulted in yet more sex. Finally, they were sated and after they were dressed, they'd grabbed a light lunch and settled down in the back garden for an afternoon of peace and quiet.

At least an afternoon of peace was their intention, but they'd only been in the garden for an hour when they heard the floo network sound to alert them someone was trying to call. Reluctantly, Draco went to answer the call, and when he came back five minutes later he was accompanied by his godfather.

"Severus." Hermione frowned at the sight of her former Potions Professor. "What can we do for you?"

"I'm sorry to say this, but the twins have been involved in a fight at school," Severus replied with a sigh.

"A fight?" Hermione was out of her seat before the words had even finished leaving her mouth. "Are they okay?"

"Lyra has a nasty gash on her arm, but Scorpius is unhurt," Severus answered. "In fact, from what Neville said, Scorpius got in a good blow to Potter's crown jewels."

"Potter." Hermione paled at the revelation of just who her children had been fighting with. "The twins have been fighting with Harry's son."

"And Weasley's daughter," Severus supplied. "Although what two fifth years are doing fighting with first years, I don't know."

"Fifth years?" Hermione frowned as she did the maths in her head. For Ron to have a daughter in fifth year, he would have had to have moved on from their break-up remarkably quickly. In fact, he had to have gotten someone pregnant and for her to have had the child in less than a year after they parted ways.

"I can go and deal with this, if you would rather stay behind," Draco offered, seeing how thrown his wife was at the revelation her ex and her former friend both had fifteen year old children.

"No, I want to go and deal with this," Hermione insisted. "Let's get going. I want to see my children."

Less than five minutes later, Hermione and Draco landed in Severus's office, alongside the Potions master himself. Severus took them up to the headmistress's office, where Hermione greeted her former head of house warmly. She was pleased that McGonagall had gotten the job of headmistress permanently after the war, and she was pleased that she and Severus could work together in harmony after everything that had happened.

"Would you mind if I went to check on Lyra?" Hermione asked the headmistress, once she'd checked Scorpius was okay.

"Of course not," McGonagall replied with a smile. "Hopefully she'll be ready to come and join the meeting. I do think we'll get further is everyone is here."

"I'll see what I can do," Hermione promised as she left her son in her husband's care and exited the headmistress's office.

Wandering the familiar hallways, Hermione was struck by dozens of memories of her own time at Hogwarts, some good and some bad. However, she didn't dwell on them too long as she headed for the hospital wing. When she arrived, she was surprised to find Cho Chang was the new school Medi-Witch. Although, Cho was just as surprised when Hermione introduced herself as Lyra's mother.

"Mum," Lyra cried, jumping off the bed and running into Hermione's arms the second she saw her mother.

"Are you okay, pumpkin?" Hermione asked.

"My arm hurts, but it's not too bad," Lyra answered. "Madam Chang gave me some pain relief."

"Is she okay to leave?" Hermione asked Cho.

"Yes," Cho replied with a nod. "But just remember, Lyra, if you start feeling sick come straight back to see me. Some people don't have a great reaction to the blood replenishing potion I had to give you."

"Blood replenishing?" Hermione queried. "Was her arm really that bad?"

"It was a pretty vicious wound," Cho admitted. "If left untreated, it could have been very serious for Lyra."

"Thank you so much for helping her," Hermione said quietly as she led her daughter from the hospital wing.

Even when Severus had said she was hurt, she hadn't realised just how much danger her daughter was in. Thankfully, nothing too bad had happened to her, but it was no thanks to Ron's daughter. Hermione certainly had something to say to the young witch, and she just hoped that Lyra wouldn't be in any more danger if they left her and her brother at Hogwarts.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Hermione asked as she and Lyra headed back to McGonagall's office.

"It was all Rose's fault," Lyra replied. "She was saying such horrible things."

"Horrible things about what?" Hermione asked, even though she could make an educated guess. It would seem as though Harry and Ron hadn't moved on and had passed their hatred of Draco and all things Malfoy onto their children.

"Now what, who," Lyra corrected.

"We've talked about this Lyra," Hermione said with a sigh as they paused outside of the headmistress's office. "Your father and I have explained about the war and the past. You know that you're not to listen to what people say about your father. He's a good man, and he's left that part of his life behind, we all have."

"It wasn't about Daddy," Lyra admitted in a small voice. "She was talking about you."

"Me?" Hermione frowned in confusion. "But I've never even met the girl. I didn't know she existed until half an hour ago. Why was she talking about me?"

"I don't know exactly, but I heard her tell her cousin that you weren't a hero like their fathers," Lyra answered. "She said you were a bitch and a coward, and that everyone should know what a heartless monster you truly are."

Hermione was shocked by the opinion of her Ron's daughter had. What on earth had Ron been filling her head with, if she had such horrid thoughts about a woman she hadn't even met? Shaking her head, Hermione reassured Lyra that she wasn't angry with her for repeating what Ron's daughter had said.

"Let's just go in and get this all sorted," Hermione said to her daughter. "And Lyra, just make sure you tell Professor McGonagall the truth. You won't get in trouble for telling the truth."

Lyra nodded and Hermione waited until her daughter had composed herself, before she knocked on the door and the pair of them entered the room. Lyra went straight over to the empty chair beside Draco, while Hermione paused in the doorway as she took in her former friends. Harry and Ron were both staring at her in shock, along with Ginny, who Hermione presumed was now married to Harry. Although, before they even said anything, she felt a pair of eyes on her that didn't belong to her former friends. Turning her attention to the red-headed girl sitting next to Ron, she was met by a piercing pair of brown eyes. Even from across the room, Hermione could feel the hatred radiating from Rose. She just didn't know what she'd done to deserve it.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hermione!" Harry gasped, breaking the stunned silence that had fallen in the headmistresses' office.

"Hello Harry," Hermione replied with a smile. "Ginny, Ron," She added, inclining her head in the direction of the two redheads.

"What are you doing here?" Ginny questioned, throwing Hermione a disgusted look.

"The same as you I would think," Hermione answered as she gave Neville a friendly smile and settled down in the last remaining seat beside her son. "Our children have been fighting."

"But that means you're a…" Ron stuttered.

"A Malfoy," Hermione finished for her ex-boyfriend. "Yes, I am."

"Perhaps we should get on," McGonagall said, interjecting before things got out of hand between the former students.

"I think that's a good idea," Hermione said, glancing at Rose and finding the young girl was still shooting daggers her way. Turning to face Draco, she found her husband had also noticed the red-headed teenagers' attitude towards her.

"I agree," Ron said snappishly. "I have no desire to sit here and listen to Malfoys bad mouth my daughter."

"No-one is badmouthing anyone," McGonagall insisted. "I just want to get to the bottom of what was going on, and make sure it won't happen again. I will not stand for fighting in my school. So, does someone care to explain what happened? James?"

"It was all her fault," James supplied, glaring at Lyra. "Rose and I were just sitting doing our homework, when the Malfoy girl stormed over and started shouting at Rose. The next thing I knew, she'd pushed Rose so Rose pushed her back. Then the brother came over and started having a go at Rose as well. That's when I jumped in and stopped him from hitting a girl."

"I would never hit a girl," Scorpius snarled. "I was protecting my sister. What you failed to mention was that your precious cousin hit Lyra after she'd pushed her. I just got in the way before she had another go at my sister."

"Rose?" McGonagall turned to the silent red-headed girl. "Do you want to explain why you hit a first year?"

"The bitch asked for it," Rose growled. "No-one asked her to come over to us and start having a go. If anyone's to blame, she is."

"Lyra, why don't you explain what happened," Draco urged his daughter. Everyone seemed to agree that Lyra had started the fight, but he wanted to know why his well-behaved daughter had lashed out at a girl she wouldn't even know.

Lyra glanced over at Hermione, and when her mother nodded her head and gave her a reassuring smile she took a deep breath before she began. "I'm sorry for causing trouble, but I heard Rose running her mouth off about my family, and I wasn't going to let her spread her lies."

"It wasn't lies," Rose retorted. "I stand by what I said."

"And just what did you say?" Ron asked his daughter.

Personally he thought anything she'd said about Draco was probably right, but he was a bit confused as to how she even knew about the blond wizard. As far as he and his family were concerned, Draco and his family were in the past. They never spoke about Draco and his family, and until Neville had turned up at The Burrow and informed them that Rose and James had been fighting with his kids, they hadn't even realised there were Malfoys at Hogwarts.

"Just the truth," Rose replied with a shrug.

"And just what is the truth?" Severus demanded.

"That our homework assignment is a joke," Rose answered. "In History of Magic we're learning about the war, and we were each assigned someone to write about. I was stuck with her."

Rose finished her sentence by glaring angrily at Hermione, and this time everyone in the room saw the hatred in the young girl's eyes. The only problem was, no-one but James understood why she hated Hermione.

"I still don't see the problem," McGonagall said with a frown. "If you've been learning about the war, then you'll know that Hermione is very much a war hero."

"She's no hero, she's a coward," Rose spat. "She's a neglectful, lying, deceitful bitch. She's a heartless monster, and now she's sitting here as though she's some sort of great mother figure."

"Now do you see why I shoved her?" Lyra demanded in an angry voice. "I couldn't just sit back and let her insult my Mum."

"You know nothing about your Mum," Rose snapped. "She's hiding a secret from you, and it's the worst secret in the world."

"Just what are you on about?" Hermione questioned. "Why do you hate me? What have I ever done to you?"

"You haven't done anything, that's the problem," Rose cried as tears began to seep from her eyes. "What was wrong with me? Why didn't you want me? Why did you keep them, and not me?"

"Rose," Ron whispered with a pained expression as the Malfoys looked at his daughter in absolute bafflement.

"What are we missing here?" Draco asked.

"Ask your wife," Ginny snapped as she put her arm around her niece. "She knows what's going on here."

"I wish I did, but I'm as confused as everyone else," Hermione replied with a frown.

"Stop lying," Rose screeched, pushing away from Ginny and jumping to her feet. "Just admit it. You're my mother and you abandoned me."

Everyone's mouths dropped at Rose's revelation. Even Harry and Ron seemed stunned by what had come out of Rose' mouth. The only people seemingly not stunned by the revelation were Ginny and James.

"Just what have you been telling her, Ron?" Hermione demanded, even though she was still reeling by what Rose had accused her of.

"Don't you dare speak to my Dad like that," Rose stormed. "He's been there for me my entire life, unlike you. He's been the one to look after me, while you were off finding yourself a new family."

"I don't know what you've been told, Rose, but I'm not your mother," Hermione said gently, although she shot her ex-boyfriend a dirty look. She couldn't believe that Ron had lied to his daughter about who her mother was.

"Stop with the lies, Hermione," Ginny snorted. "We all know what happened in Australia."

"Clearly you all know something I don't, so please enlighten me," Hermione replied. "Explain how you're accusing me of being the mother to a girl I didn't know existed until an hour ago."

"Let's not do this here," Ron interrupted. "This is private business, between myself and my daughter."

"It's too late for that now Weasley," Draco spat. "You're accusing my wife of something she hasn't done. We want answers. Tell us why you've been lying to your daughter for fifteen years."

"I've never lied to you, Rose," Ron said, turning to his daughter. "Not once. Everything I've told you about your mother is true."

"And just what is that, because she seems to have gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick," Draco said.

"I know, Dad," Rose said as she wiped her eyes. "I know you tried to protect me, but I've known for years who my mother was."

"Someone told you Hermione was your mother?" Ron asked, looking accusingly at his sister.

"Don't look at me," Ginny warned her brother. "You made it clear when you came back from Australia that we weren't to mention Hermione. I've never mentioned her in front of Rose, or any of the other kids."

"You might never have mentioned her in front of us, but you still talked about her," James pointed out. "The whole family talk about her. Did you really think we hadn't heard at least some of the gossip? We pieced the whole story together years ago."

"And just what story did you piece together?" Hermione asked.

"The story of how you abandoned Rose without a second thought," James answered, giving Hermione a cold look that was just as hateful as the one his cousin had bestowed on the attractive brunette witch. "Even though no-one told us the story, we've heard enough over the years. How you and Uncle Ron went off to Australia together, and when he came back two years later he had Rose with him. You were gone and Rose was left without a mother."

"Two years?" Hermione turned to her ex-boyfriend. "It took you two years to come back home? I thought you'd gone home the second we split up. You stayed in Australia for nearly another year after we split up?"

"What's she on about Ron?" Ginny asked.

"I think it's time you told us everything, Ron," Harry said firmly. "We've spent fifteen years honouring your request not to talk about Australia, but look where that's gotten us. I think you owe us all an explanation."

"I'm sorry," Ron whispered as he hung his head in his hands. "This was never supposed to happen."

"What? I was never supposed to get blamed for abandoning a child I'd never had?" Hermione demanded. "What did you think would happen when you told everyone I was Rose's mother?"

"I didn't," Ron answered as he finally looked up and found everyone watching him. "I never once said you were Rose's mother."

Harry and Ginny immediately turned to look at each other, before they re-focused back on Ron.

"Rose isn't Hermione's, is she?" Ginny finally whispered.

"It took you all long enough to work it out," Draco muttered.

"No, that's not true Aunt Ginny," Rose insisted. "Everyone says she's my mother."

"Because that's we we've all believed these years," Harry explained in a quiet voice. "We've all thought Hermione was your mother."

"You thought I would abandon my child?" Hermione asked in horror. "Did you ever know me, Harry? Did you honestly think I was capable of such a thing?"

"I was shocked, but it was what we were led to believe," Harry replied.

"Don't put this on me," Ron seethed. "You lot jumped to conclusions. I never once indicated that Hermione was Rose's mother."

"Maybe not, but you damn well knew what we all thought," Ginny argued. "You're not stupid Ron, you knew what sort of conclusions we all reached. How were we ever supposed to think anything else? You left with Hermione, and when you returned you had Rose. All you would say was that you and Hermione had split up and that Rose's mother wasn't in the picture. You wouldn't talk about what had happened, so we came to the logical conclusion that Rose was Hermione's. You could have put us straight, but you chose not to. Why?"

"Because he didn't want to admit the truth," Draco said.

"And what do you know about the truth, Malfoy?" Ron spat.

"I know why you and Hermione split up, and some simple maths has a conclusion jumping to my mind," Draco answered. "Let's guess, the reason you didn't come home when you and Hermione split up was that you found out you were about to become a father. You stuck around because the witch you were sleeping with behind Hermione's back was pregnant."

"Ron," Ginny gasped. "Tell me this isn't true."

"I'm sorry," Ron whispered.

"Dad. Tell me the truth, who is my mother?" Rose pleaded.

Ignoring everyone else in the room, Ron took hold of his daughter's hand and finally told her the truth. He told her how he'd had an affair with an Australian witch named Kylie behind Hermione's back, and how a few days after Hermione had walked out on him Kylie had shown up and announced she was pregnant. Ron explained how Kylie had asked him for money for a termination, but that he'd persuaded her to have the baby and he would raise it.

"I'm sorry princess," Ron said, wiping at his daughter's tears. "I never meant to lie to you, or anyone. I was just too ashamed to admit how much I'd messed up. But I have never regretted the decision to persuade your mother to have you. She might not have wanted you, but I always have. I'm just sorry I let people think Hermione was your mother."

"You did it deliberately, didn't you?" Harry questioned. "You knew what we thought, and you didn't bother to correct us. You let us think the worst of Hermione for fifteen years."

"To be fair, if you'd ever really known Hermione, you never would have thought she was capable of that," Draco pointed out. "You were happy to think the worst of Hermione, because that way you didn't have to question Weasley and find out the real truth about Rose's mother."

"I'm so sorry, Hermione," Harry said, turning to his former friend. "Can you ever forgive me?"

"For thinking so little of me?" Hermione questioned with a sad shake of her head. "I'm sorry Harry, but I think too much has happened. As Draco said, if you'd really known me, you wouldn't have thought I was capable of abandoning my daughter. I would never walk away from my child. You should have known that, Harry."

"Your right, I should," Harry said quietly as silence fell in the office.

While everyone was digesting the news and trying to work out their next move, Lyra got out of her seat and made her way across to Rose. Hermione didn't notice her daughter until she was standing in front of the red headed witch, and she just prayed that Lyra wasn't going to cause more trouble.

"I'm sorry Rose," Lyra said softly. "I had no idea that you'd grown up without a Mum. It's not your fault that you thought my Mum was your Mum, and I can't blame you for not liking her when you thought that. I'm sorry I pushed you and called you names."

"I'm sorry for insulting your Mum," Rose returned with a sheepish smile before she turned to Hermione. "Sorry, Mrs Malfoy."

"It's okay sweetheart, you didn't have all the facts," Hermione replied. "I'm just sorry you've had to spend fifteen years not knowing the truth."

"So am I," Rose whispered as she turned back to her father and gave him a sad look.

"I think in light of what's just occurred, we can skip major punishments for you four," McGonagall announced softly. "However, I will need to punish the fighting, so you'll all lose twenty points and you'll all serve detentions with your head of house tomorrow evening."

"Thank you, Professor McGonagall," Harry said, pleased that no-one was in any real trouble following the afternoon's events.

"Would it be okay if I took Rose home?" Ron asked. "I think it's time we talked properly. I can have her back at school tomorrow afternoon."

"In the circumstances, I'll allow it," McGonagall said with a nod. "Would you care to use my floo network?"

McGonagall rose to her feet and after sorting a return time with Ron, he headed off home with Rose. Once he was gone, Harry and Ginny got up to leave. The Potters both issued Hermione another apology, but it was clear to everyone that the damage had been done. They'd thought the worst of her for fifteen years, and a couple of apologies wasn't going to change that. When Harry and Ginny left, James also exited the headmistress office after Neville told him to be in his office at seven the following evening.

"I'll see you two at seven also," Severus said to the twins. "And next time remember, violence is not the answer."

"Yes, Professor," Lyra said meekly.

"Off you go," Hermione said to her two children. "And try to stay out of trouble until the end of term."

"We will," Scorpius vowed as he led his sister towards the door. "Bye Mum, bye Dad."

"See you later son. Be good, Lyra," Draco called as the pair exited the office.

"I don't know about anyone else, but I could use a drink after all that," McGonagall said as she pulled a bottle of firewhisky from her bottom drawer once the adults were alone in the room. Summoning five glasses, she poured everyone a drink and handed them around.

"I had no idea about any of that," Neville muttered as he sank into a chair with his firewhisky. "Poor Rose. I can't believe Ron never told her the truth."

"I can't believe he just let people think she was mine," Hermione said sadly. "That poor girl, she must be in such a mess."

"I think we can all agree that Ron handled things badly," McGonagall said. "Although, I'm sure his family will let him know how much he messed up."

"You might have to brace yourself for apologies, Hermione," Draco said. "We could have Weasleys coming out of the woodwork to say sorry now they know the truth."

"Like with Harry and Ginny, it's too little too late," Hermione said with a shrug. "They've thought the worst of me for fifteen years, and one apology isn't going to change that fact. This changes nothing for us. Let's just hope it gives poor Rose some answers about her mother."

"I just wish someone had said something to me," Neville said as he sipped his firewhisky. "If either Harry or Ginny had mentioned you being Rose's mother, I could have put them straight. But they never said a word."

"Like Draco said, maybe they didn't say anything as they didn't want to have to question Weasley," Severus suggested. "I'm sure deep down they knew Hermione would never walk away from her child. But believing that was better than questioning Weasley and finding out he was the distasteful party."

"I don't suppose we'll ever know," Hermione said with sad smile. "But at least now I know why the Weasleys and Harry never tried to contact me. They'd painted me as the villain, and they were happy to have my out of their lives. Luckily, I've moved on and I don't need them anymore. I say we forget about the dramas of the Weasleys. I want to focus on what I have in my life."

"And what's that?" Draco questioned with a smirk.

"Good friends, and a great family," Hermione replied.

"Sounds like a perfect toast," Neville said with a grin. "To good friends and great family."

"Good friends and great family," Everyone chorused, clinking glasses and finishing the last of their firewhisky.

While Hermione hoped that Rose Weasley got the answers she needed from her father, she was hoping not to be sucked into any more of the Weasley family dramas. She'd had as much as she could take that afternoon. She wanted to forget all about Ron and the other Weasleys, and focus on her own family. After all, why would she be interested in the dramas of another family when she had her own family to deal with. Draco and the twins were more than enough for her to handle. There was enough drama in being a Malfoy, without having to be sucked into another family's melodramatics.

 **The End.**

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 **A/N - Thanks for reading, and thank you for all the great reviews. I hope you enjoyed this little story.**


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